The Concept of Project Management and Planning

 

Project planning is part of project management, which relates to the use of schedules such as Gantt charts to plan and subsequently report progress within the project environment.

Initially, the project scope is defined and the appropriate methods for completing the project are determined. Following this step, the durations for the various tasks necessary to complete the work are listed and grouped into a work breakdown structure. Project planning is often used to organize different areas of a project, including project plans, workloads and the management of teams and individuals. The logical dependencies between tasks are defined using an activity network diagram that enables identification of the critical path. 

Project planning is inherently uncertain as it must be done before the project is actually started. Therefore, the duration of the tasks is often estimated through a weighted average of optimistic, normal, and pessimistic cases. The critical chain method adds "buffers" in the planning to anticipate potential delays in project execution.

Float or slack time in the schedule can be calculated using project management software. Then the necessary resources can be estimated and costs for each activity can be allocated to each resource, giving the total project cost. At this stage, the project schedule may be optimized to achieve the appropriate balance between resource usage and project duration to comply with the project objectives. Once established and agreed, the project schedule becomes what is known as the baseline schedule. Progress will be measured against the baseline schedule throughout the life of the project. Analysing progress compared to the baseline schedule is known as earned value management.

The inputs of the project planning phase 2 include the project charter and the concept proposal. The outputs of the project planning phase include the project requirements, the project schedule, and the project management plan.

Project planning can be done manually, but project management software is often used.

Definition of Project

Project management has evolved because of the need to manage complex public and private sector activities. But before we go into our discussions on project management, we need to understand the subject matter. We also need to understand our operating terminology.

Project has been defined in various ways. Some authorities see projects as mere activities while others see them as programmes of action. Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defines a project as “an important and carefully planned piece of work that is intended to build or produce something new, or to deal with a problem.”

From this simple definition, we can see that a project, apart from being important, should be carefully planned so as to produce something.

Some of the things that a project seeks to produce may be tangible or intangible. A motorcycle is a tangible product but conducting a census is not a tangible product.

The following are examples of projects:

a.     construction of a 50-bed hospital at Ikeja by the Lagos State government.

b.     dualisation of the Lekki-Epe, Lagos highway by the Lagos Ministry of Works.

c.     sinking of 10 water boreholes at Ikorodu town by the local government council.

From whatever angle we see these projects, some of their features are that they will require the commitment and deployment of scare resources. Also, the products will not manage themselves. They will be managed.

Meaning of Project Management

If we define a project as an important piece of work, project management is the planning, organising, directing and controlling of resources for a relatively short-term objective that has been earlier established to complete specific goals. For example, the construction of a 50-bed hospital at Ikeja by the Lagos State government will require a lot of resources: financial, material and labour.

There will be need for procurement of land. There will also be need for architects to design the hospital. There will be need for structural engineers, civil and building engineers and electrical engineers. Different types of equipment will be sourced for e.g. X-ray machines, laboratory equipment, etc. to equip the hospital.

There should be a way in which all these resources should be coordinated and managed for effective and time management. In situations like these, project management comes in handy to provide much needed expertise.

1.3  Purpose of Project Management

From the onset, it will be necessary to stress that many projects are very complex in nature. The complexities may be introduced by the nature of technology required to execute the project. For example, a census project is one of the most difficult and complex projects that public sector managers may face. Also, managing the 2007 election in Nigeria was another complex project.

Most projects such as we have mentioned may require elements of critical risks and uncertainty. For example, how do we predict what will happen next year? Even if we could predict the political future with a measure of certainty, predicting the movement of prices and costs of materials in Nigeria involves a lot of risks and uncertainty.

In all cases therefore, we would say that the purpose of project management is to foresee the future and associated problems and therefore, plan, organise and control key activities so that projects are completed successfully and on time too.

If we see project management from that perspective, it follows logically that project management starts even before financial resources are committed and lasts until the completion of the project.